5th May 2013 Kingfisher Park Birdwatchers Lodge

Weather Report:-

Still no new humidity or temperature sensor, can't find a decent one which isn't made in China. Temperatures have ranged from 17ºc up to 28ºc but most days less than this due to cloud cover and drizzly rain. Cyclone Zane which developed in the Coral Sea was over 1000km North-West from us and posed no threat in our area and as it turned out it broke up before hitting landfall north of Lockhart River on Cape York Peninsula. This was a very late cyclone and now the season is officially over. The rainfall was 29.5mm over the two weeks with week 1 mainly dry and sunny.

Past Two Weeks Bird Sightings:-

Bird sightings for the first week were 97, 94 seen and 3 heard, second week sightings were 113, 103 seen and 10 heard. The last two weeks bird lists can be found on the Eremaea Birds Website:- April 21st – April 27th and April 28th - May 4th

Birding Highlights:-

It would appear that all the adult Buff-breasted Paradise-Kingfisher have left over the past two weeks for their journey back to Papua New Guinea leaving a few juveniles behind. This one is seven-eight weeks old and is coming down for a few meal worms each morning, it was last seen on the 4th May. Yet another progress photo!
 

Buff-breasted Paradise-Kingfisher - 7-8 weeks  old

A few Topknot Pigeon continue to fly over and fruit-doves have been absent over the past two weeks. Papuan Frogmouth have been absent for most of the second week which has been quite damp, this normally forces them deeper into the rainforest to seek shelter. Waterbirds have been around in low numbers and the Straw-necked Ibis, which were around three weeks ago, vanished from the area until the last day of sightings for the Blog when one turned up along McDougall Road. Ten species of raptor were seen over the two weeks with one or two sightings of most apart from Black Kite which have been seen in small groups of 2-6 on most days. Other good sightings were an Australian Hobby which shot over one evening making its kikiki call and a Spotted Harrier which was gliding from the Julatten School towards McDougall Road.

A Black-shouldered Kite was perched on top of a dead tree along McDougall Road when three Blue-faced Honeyeater flew in and landed on the dead branch below the kite. After a few seconds the kite took exception to the presence of the blue-faces and started tail-wagging by cocking its tail up and down. This agnostic behaviour has been documented in the Handbook of Australian, New Zealand & Antarctic Birds (HANZAB) which says it is a response to an intruder into its territory. A quick check on the internet revealed plenty of other people who had seen it and interpreted it as mating or territorial display but our observation agrees with the HANZAB description. The four of us who witnessed this behaviour had never seen it before and several other birdos in the area we've asked have never seen this behaviour either; there is always a first time and it is this that make birding so interesting and unpredictable. Thanks to one of our guests Matthew for allowing us to use these excellent shots taken of the bird doing this behaviour along McDougall Road.

Black-shouldered Kite with Blue-faced Honeyeater

Black-shouldered Kite - Tail Wagging

One of our guests saw a Red-necked Crake at the Crake Pool early one morning whilst patiently sitting and waiting and one was also seen in our neighbours garden coming to their birdbath again. Pale-vented Bush-hen are still around but being seen on fewer occasions, however, they are still letting us know they are around by calling, often when a car goes by.

We've notice noise from motorbikes, cars and planes going over often trigger them to call in the past. Bush Stone-curlew were calling one night trying to compete with calling Orange-footed Scrubfowl – an odd combination of species which have diverse habitat requirements. Large-numbers of Rainbow and Scaly-breasted Lorikeet have turned up over the last week and don't appear to be feeding in anything particular, many were in our orchard flying around from tree to tree but not feeding on them. Several Little Bronze-cuckoo (nominate race) have been seen in the Lodge grounds as opposed to the normally present sub-species Gould's Bronze-cuckoo. Barking Owl have been around and seen several times, they have also been calling at dawn before going to roost when it is quite light. They were in competition with Laughing and Blue-winged Kookaburra, Black Butcherbird and Spangled Drongo one morning! Eastern Barn Owl are still calling well but not appearing to pair up yet. Azure Kingfisher is still zipping up and down Bushy Creek with the odd rest stop at the Crake Pool. A Laughing Kookaburra was seen crashing into a tree and emerging with a Dainty Green Tree Frog and Blue-winged Kookaburra have been vocal in Geraghty Park where these two were perched.

Blue-winged Kookaburra

Noisy Pitta are still around in the Lodge grounds but have only been heard once in the last two weeks. Spotted Catbird have started to call early mornings and sneak around in the rainforest when they are not raiding Soursop or Custard Apple fruits in the orchard. 

Spotted Catbird

Red-backed Fairy-wren have been regularly seen along McDougall Road and Lovely Fairy-Wren have been seen and heard in our neighbours garden. 13 species of honeyeater over the last week were seen plus two more heard. Dusky again being the most prominent plus a few White-cheeked were good to see near the Julatten School. An Eastern Whipbird was heard twice in the Lodge grounds rainforest but not seen as it was hiding in dense vegetation.

Eastern Whipbird

Yellow Oriole has again been seen and heard around the Lodge whilst Olive-backed have only been heard a couple of times in the open woodland area near Geraghty Park. Both an adult Black Butcherbird and a juvenile brown bird have been moving around the Lodge grounds and our neighbours garden. The first Grey Fantail of the year turned up this last week in the camping area and a Northern Fantail has been seen at the nearby Barramundi Farm several times. Most Black-faced Monarch have headed north to Papua New Guinea but there is still one with a juvenile in tow hanging around which is making it very late in the season. Pied Monarch are continuing to call infrequently and regularly coming down to bathe in Bushy Creek late afternoon as this one was doing.

Pied Monarch

Victoria's Riflebird is still around the Lodge but keeping high up in the canopy calling and not showing.

Victoria's Riflebird - male

Grey-headed Robin numbers are low for this time of year with only 2-3 birds around, the rest must still be up on the mountains behind us. Tawny Grassbird are along the edge of the cane fields with at least two birds heard one evening; these birds are probably migrating through the cane fields in the area as they only stay for a short period. Olive-backed Sunbird are either nesting or trying to nest with one mentioned before nesting on our neighbours veranda abandoned. One old nest in Geraghty Park was being refurbished by the female, lets hope they have more success than last year when two attempts failed.

Further Afield:-

One again Kath and Dave at Cooktown hit the jackpot with a Red Goshawk north of Cooktown to follow up the White Wagtail they saw (also north of Cooktown) on the 19^th April, which incidentally has not been seen since the initial sighting despite several people looking. Besides the two Pacific Baza already mentioned at the Lodge two more were displaying along Euluma Creek Road in Julatten one morning which could indicate they are back for the breeding season. Many years ago when we lived in Cairns we saw at least 12 bazas over our house heading north in August at the end of the breeding season, how far north they go we are not sure. 

Pacific Baza

12 Little Corella flew over the industrial area of Mareeba late one afternoon, the most we have seen in this area. Blue-faced Parrot-Finch are still being seen at the 10km clearing on Mt. Lewis up until at least the 26^th April when three were seen. Plenty of other species here as well including calling Fernwren, several parties of Chowchilla families, Atherton Scrubwren and Bassian Thrush. Brady Swamp near Mareeba has been good for several species including 300+ Grey Teal, 21 Pink-eared Duck, 11 Glossy Ibis, 1 White-necked Heron. A full list is on the Eremaea Birds site. Australian Bustard are still at Maryfarms as are a few Diamond Dove. Further north Del Richards from Fine Feather Tours sighted a small flock (10-12) of Budgerigar flying eastwards across the Mulligan Highway at Rocky St. George Creek, south of the Palmer River Roadhouse, possibly the first reports of this species for the region. Del also saw 400+ Black Kite at Mareeba airport on the 28th April - an amazing number.

Reptiles and Mammals:-

21 species of reptiles and mammals were seen, which was down on previous weeks due to a lesser effort in looking, especially at night due to unfavourable weather. Fawn-footed Melomys and Bush Rat were regulars at the feeder along with a couple of White-tailed Rat. Red-legged Pademelon were seen in the rainforest and an Agile Wallaby was hopping past the cookshed and office before heading down the path to the orchard, not sure where it came from – that's a first for us viewed from the office! Striped Possum were seen around the Lodge grounds on several occasions with at least two seen. One evening two were on the ground running around the veranda outside the units chasing each other – another first. At least three different Boyd's Forest Dragon have been around in the Lodge rainforest by the units and edge of the orchard. The rainy weather drove several White-lipped Tree Frog to come out of the rainforest and seek shelter in some of the buildings – aren't frogs supposed to like the wet weather? This one booked into one of our two bedroom units for a day!

White-lipped Tree Frog

10th March 2013 Kingfisher Park Birdwatchers Lodge

Well we are back at the lodge after a very pleasant break from work. We will put together a trip report when time permits but briefly it was very hot and not an ideal time to be visiting South Australia. Birding was restricted to early mornings and late afternoon and it was hard work finding birds. We had a couple of lifers and many state “ticks” plus plenty of dips but managed to see some great country along the way. One bird which was particularly common around wetlands was the Australian Spotted Crake, one wetland we saw 50+, always good to see crakes.

Australian Spotted Crake

Anyway back to Far North Queensland! The blog is late this week due to our internet supplier having a problem at their exchange which caused us to be without a connection from Saturday until late Wednesday night – the joys of modern technology!

Weather Report:-

Weather over the last two weeks has been pleasant, up to 31.8ºC and down to 19.8ºC. Humidity ranged from a low of 64%, up to 94%. Rainfall has been very low and not typical for this time of year 47.5mm for the first week and 61mm for the second week, usually we are getting well over 100mm a week at this time of year. The “wet season” has still not happened but there is still time for it too happen. Most of the rainfall has been in the south-east of Queensland.

Past Two Weeks Bird Sightings:-

Bird sightings for the first week were 105, 92 seen and 13 heard, second week sightings were 100, 89 seen and 11 heard. The last two weeks bird lists can be found on the Eremaea Birds Website:-

March24th– February 2nd and March 3rd– March 9th

Birding Highlights:-

Buff-breasted Paradise-Kingfisher have ended up with six active nests, one was started and bird sitting but somewhere along the way it was abandoned. So far only one nest has fledged young with two juveniles emerging from one nest after 27 days incubation. The other five nests have loudly calling chicks inside who should be emerging any day. The adult birds have been busy bringing food to the nests but the lack of insects has seen them bringing in smaller than usual prey, mainly small beetles with the occasional worms. Normal fledging period is 26-29 days.This image below shows how tight a fit it is to get into the nest to feed the young.

Buff-breasted Paradise-Kingfisher - feeding chicks at nest

This image shows the proud dad from the nest which has fledged two chicks.

Buff-breasted Paradise-Kingfisher

A pair of Red-necked Crake have been running around with at least one fluffy black chick, they put on a performance outside the reception area one night running backwards and forwards with chick in tow before disappearing into the forest. They have been seen several other times and three adults were heard calling near the Crake Pool late one evening. Pale-vented Bush-hen have been visiting our neighbours garden and an adult with a juvenile was there late in the week. A Papuan Frogmouth has been roosting around the reception and bunkhouse areas spasmodically over the last two weeks. Another one was seen near the nursing home along Mt. Kooyong Road late one afternoon being harassed by other birds. A second year Spotted Harrier has been around the McDougall Road area as have a few Varied Sitella, not normally this close to the lodge.

Spotted Harrier

Cattle Egret have returned with 15 seen still in breeding plumage. A Horsfield's Bronze-cuckoo was calling outside the reception area late one afternoon, an uncommon visitor. Channel-billed Cuckoo have been gathering in the area, before they continue north to Papua New Guinea and often seen flying towards McDougall Road late evening with up to 22 seen at one time. Both Barking Owl and Sooty Owl have been heard but not sighted. Two Noisy Pitta were heard calling near the Crake Pool in the orchard near where they had a nest 5-6 weeks ago. No reports as to whether the nest was successful or not. A Yellow-spotted Honeyeater has been sitting on a nest located under the eves of the unit accommodation for the past week, at least it is a dry location. An immature Eastern Whipbird turned up one day which is a very uncommon visitor from the mountains behind the lodge. There has been 11 records from 1996 between March and November with 8 of those records between May and July. 
 

Eastern Whipbird

Another uncommon visitor was a Yellow Oriole who had a dependant juvenile with it, surprising as there are no records of breeding near the lodge that we know about. A Grey-headed Robin arrived back at the lodge at the beginning of the second week (3^rd March).

Further Afield:-

A small flotilla of 24 Australasian Grebe were swimming around in Brady Swamp at Mareeba along with other waterfowl such as two Pink-eared Duck, both Plumed and Wandering Whistling-Duck, Pacific Black Duck and Hardhead. 

Australasian Grebe

 

Also present were Spotted Harrier and an Australian Hobby. In the Port Douglas area were at least seven Pied Heron and a Pink-eared Duck on a small seasonal wetland, reported by David “Chook” Crawford from http://www.closeupbirding.com.au, he also said that the previously reported Freckled Duck at Hasties Swamp near Atherton were still present during the week (3-9^th March) . Mt. Lewis has been accessible over the last week and all 12 Wet Tropic endemics have been seen there. Other birds seen in the Julatten area of interest were one Australian Bustard, two Singing Bushlark, four Black shouldered Kite and a Leaden Flycatcher feeding a dependant young. A Wandering Tattler was reported, on the Eremaea Birds site, at Machans Beach in Cairns along with an excellent image of it.

Reptiles and Mammals:-

The most surprising sighting was whilst we were away when a Spotted Quoll ran across the lawn in front of the accommodation units, this is the first record that we know about here. We have seen them up on the mountains behind us on Mt. Lewis but even there they are rare. Lets hope we see it again before it cleans up all our small mammals! Over the last few weeks there have been a few more sightings of snakes including Amethystine and Carpet Python, Slaty-grey Snake and Macleay's Water Snake. Frog have been surprisingly quiet despite the damp conditions only Jungguy Frog, White-lipped Tree Frog, Dainty Green Tree Frog and Cogger's Frog were seen. A Striped Possum was seen in our neighbours garden when it was tap-dancing along the banana leaves outside the back door. 

Hopefully we will be back on track for the next blog!

 

7th November 2010 Report

The big news this week was that we were presented with a Wet Tropics Management Authority Cassowary Award for Nature Based Tourism! Hence the late appearance of the blog as we had a day off to receive the award which was presented at Wildlife Habitat at Port Douglas. The awards recognise individuals and groups who have made outstanding contributions to the conservation and presentation of the Wet Tropics World Heritage Area.

The only Cassowary you are likely to see at the Lodge!

The weather was not quite as good as last week as we had 4mm of rain, but most of the week was dry and sunny with similar temperatures to last week 19.2ºC – 29.2ºC. Bird sightings were good with 78 seen and 4 heard, mammals and reptiles were 18 seen.

A full species list for the week can be found Here

Highlight for the week was a Noisy Pitta feeding a juvenile bird which is very early in the season to have young. Last season they were still feeding young in the nest in January and fledglings in February, so fledglings in November is very early. The pittas are searching for food in the orchard and showing well with everyone getting good views. Spectacled Monarch were feeding fledglings in February and now there have been some seen being fed last week which is very early, so maybe they will nest a second time. Pacific Baza have started feeding their young in the nest and also bringing in new nest material to spruce up their untidy nest. 

 Pacific Baza with nest material

The baza's are having to run the gauntlet of up to six White-breasted Woodswallow which are harassing them and keeping them away from the nest for long periods.

A flock of Magpie Goose were heard flying over one night honking away. Brown Cuckoo-Dove are feeding in Tobacco Bush with at least five birds present one morning. Papuan Frogmouth have only been at their usual roost twice this week with both the male and female birds sitting within 2m of each other. They are still calling most nights and no sign of any nesting activity has been seen. Cattle Egret numbers have increased with at least 300 gathering in a paddock opposite KFP one evening, most in breeding plumage. White-bellied Sea-Eagle have been active, soaring overhead and calling a lot. Red-necked Crake was briefly seen hurrying through the rainforest near the track to Bushy Creek from the orchard late one afternoon and has also been heard calling every night. 


Scaly-breasted Lorikeet numbers have been building up as more trees are starting to flower and Double-eyed Fig-Parrot were seen at least once. An Eastern Koel, female, was showing well one morning perched high up in a tree behind the accommodation units, but no sign of the males despite hearing them calling. Channel-billed Cuckoo have started to call more frequently after keeping quiet for a few weeks, maybe they have laid their eggs. Azure Kingfisher has been zipping up and down Bushy Creek most days and perching well for good looks. Dollarbird has been calling and displaying in Geraghty Park with at least six individuals soaring around. Also in the park were three adult male Rufous Whistler displaying to one female. The males were chasing each other around, perching then head bobbing and arching with their tails cocked up. Needless to say the female was taking no obvious notice. 

Rufous Whistler - female

Spotted Catbird was seen feeding a very recently fledged bird who was having trouble maintaining balance on a branch. Lewin's Honeyeaters are still hanging around and a few Bridled Honeyeaters have been calling and showing on the grevillea flowers. White-throated Honeyeater are more visible, calling and feeding on flowering eucalypts as well as looking for lerps (small sugary insects).

 White-throated Honeyeater

A male Cicadabird has been calling and spending a lot of time chasing off Australasian Figbird, not sure if they are nesting yet. 

 Australasian Figbird - male

A single Rufous Fantail was foraging high in the rainforest canopy and was the first sighting for several weeks. An Olive-backed Oriole showed itself after many weeks of calling and hiding from us, it was mimicking several other bird species calls as it went about feeding on some small fruits. Golden-headed Cisticola have been calling and showing in the neighboring cane fields and Mistletoebird has been tending his mistletoe which is now coming into full flower and attracting the honeyeaters as well.

Fawn-footed Melomys are coming to the feeder more often lately, better they eat our seed than our car radiator hoses! 

 Fawn-footed Melomys

A Green Ringtail Possum was seen roosting in a tree over the bunkhouse one afternoon but not located since. Northern Brown Bandicoot females are carrying very large babies in their pouches 

 Northern Brown Bandicoot

Two juvenile Platypus have been swimming past the viewing area as well as two adults most mornings and afternoons. They are bad time keepers and are not turning up at any set time in the evening and early morning, you just have to be patient to see them. Spectacled Flying-Fox numbers have increased in the orchard at night feeding on a few fruits including the Blue Quondong. Several Boyd's Forest Dragon are still showing well around the grounds and an Amethystine Python was on the ground beside the track to Bushy Creek from the orchard one evening.

Further afield a Great-billed Heron was reported from Bushy Creek at the beginning of the Mt. Lewis Road; we have records of them along Bushy Creek in August and October. A male Golden Bowerbird was seen flying across the track beyond the tin miners dam on Mt. Lewis. Squatter Pigeon was along the Emerald Creek Falls Road east of Mareeba, also at Emerald Creek was a Rufous Owl and the White-browed Robin that was reported from here a few weeks ago is still feeding a juvenile. A pair of Spotted Harrier were along the Malanda to Atherton Road and can be expected in this area at this time of year.